Alamo Colleges’ registration process fails some students

Ruben Siller can’t pay his rent because his financial aid checks have not come in.

Amanda Hurtz has been dropped from her classes multiple times for non-payment, the result of a clerical error.

Ernesto Olivares is driving across town to a distant campus because he somehow registered for the wrong class.

All three are foster kids who have aged out of the system. By law, they receive tuition waivers to attend public colleges and universities in Texas, and use financial aid money for living expenses while attending school.

But this year, the systems set up to help them have gone haywire because of Banner, a new software program at the Alamo Colleges that has spawned chaos, confusion and long lines of students trying to register for classes and get their financial aid disbursements.

“It makes you want to go to a different college,” said Hurtz, 21, who addressed the Alamo Colleges Board of Trustees Tuesday night. “I almost transferred to UTSA.”

Because of their tuition waivers, the former foster children had a harder time than most.

A survey of 700 students by San Antonio College’s Student Government Association found that the vast majority of students had registered successfully by the first day of classes. But it also found that most had experienced problems, a sentiment echoed by the faculty and staff trying to help students sign up.

“(Banner) training was rushed, information came out in the summer when people were gone, and no one was in charge of answering questions when we began registering students,” said Dawn Elmore-McCrary, representing the faculty senate at San Antonio College.

Thomas Cleary, vice chancellor for information technology, said he took the students’ stories and faculty comments to heart, and promised a smoother process next spring.